Permanent hires, found by recruiters who know the trade.
Welders and skilled trades. Light industrial leads and supervisors. Aerospace inspectors and mechanics. Quality and controls engineers. AI and technology roles. We source, screen and coordinate the offer. The hire is your employee from day one, and the fee is due only when they start. Written quote within 24 hours.
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, aerospace product and parts manufacturing, series CES3133640001, July 2026 preliminary, seasonally adjusted, 594,500 employees, up 26,000 over the year; all manufacturing up 0.2 percent over the year to August 2026 (BLS Employment Situation, Table B1). Aerospace Industries Association and McKinsey workforce study, attrition of nearly 15 percent in 2024. Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, nearly 500,000 open manufacturing technician positions, September 10, 2026. BLS Employment Projections 2025 to 2035, released August 27, 2026, data scientists up 35 percent.
Some seats cannot be filled with a posting.
Direct placement is a search, not a job ad. It is the right tool when the candidate is employed somewhere else, expects a permanent offer, and will not answer an ad for a temporary assignment. Our research on the aerospace workforce and the AI job market shows how tight those pools are.
Technical and engineering roles
Quality engineers, controls engineers, NDT Level II inspectors, A&P mechanics, machine learning and data engineers. The people who hold these jobs are working today. Someone has to find them, call them and make the case.
Leads, supervisors and managers
A shift supervisor, a warehouse lead, a plant quality manager. The wrong hire here costs you the crew underneath them. A recruiter who has run the same floor asks the questions an HR screen misses.
Skilled trades with certifications
Journeyman welders, CNC machinists, maintenance electricians, tool and die makers. Certifications need to be read, not just listed, and the candidate wants to hear about your equipment, not a staffing agency’s.
From the weld cell to the server room.
One recruiting team, several deep pools. We search in your market first and nationally for specialized roles. If we cannot fill a search well, we will tell you before we take it.
Skilled trades and light industrial leadership
Aerospace and quality
Engineering, AI and technology
One fee, billed once, when your new employee starts.
The hire is your employee from day one
Unlike our hourly services, C3 is not the employer of record here. We run the search and hand you a person ready to sign. The fee is a percent of first year salary, quoted in writing before the search begins, and it is due only when the candidate starts.
- A written search plan: role, must haves, pay range and timeline
- Recruiting in your market and, for specialized roles, nationally
- Direct outreach to people who are employed and not applying
- Interviews and skill evaluation by a recruiter who has met the candidate
- Certification and work history verification
- Background and drug screening to your requirements
- Export control and US person documentation where the work requires it
- Scheduling and feedback loop for your interviews
- Offer coordination through the accepted start date
- A recruiter who checks in after the start
Four steps from an open seat to a signed offer.
The recruiter who takes the search is the recruiter who calls the candidates. No handoff to a sourcing desk.
Consult
We talk through the role, the equipment or systems, the certifications that are real requirements versus wish list items, the pay range and why the last person left. Written quote, fee and search plan within 24 hours.
Search
Direct outreach to people working in the role today, plus our own network built over years of placing the same trades. We tell you early if the pay range will not clear the market so you can adjust before weeks are lost.
Present
You see a short list, not a stack. Each candidate has been interviewed, has had certifications and work history checked, and knows what your role pays and what it demands. We schedule your interviews and carry the feedback both ways.
Offer and start
We help shape an offer the candidate will accept, handle the counteroffer conversation and stay close through notice and the first day. The fee is billed when they start. We respond within one business day.
Straight answers.
How is the direct placement fee calculated?
A one time fee, a percent of the candidate’s first year salary, billed once when they start. The percent depends on the role and how hard the search is, and it is written into your quote before we begin. There is no ongoing markup and no charge if you do not hire.
How long does a search take?
It depends on the role, the location and the pay range. A production supervisor in a large metro fills faster than a cleared NDT inspector or a controls engineer with a specific PLC platform. We give you a realistic timeline in the search plan and update it every week, rather than promising a date we cannot keep.
What happens if the person leaves in the first few months?
Call your recruiter. We will talk through what happened and how we help. The terms that apply to your account, including what we do in that situation, are written down before the search starts. We do not publish a blanket guarantee because every search is different, and we would rather tell you exactly what we will do than hide behind fine print.
Do you recruit outside our local area?
Yes. For specialized roles, aerospace inspectors, AI and technology talent, engineers with a particular platform, we recruit nationally and coordinate relocation conversations with the candidate. For leads, supervisors and trades, we usually start in your market because those people rarely relocate for the role.
Should we use direct placement or temp to hire?
Direct placement when the candidate is employed, expects a permanent offer and will not consider a temporary assignment. That describes most engineers, technical specialists and managers. Temp to hire when you want to watch the work before committing, which suits production, warehouse and many skilled roles. Tell us the seat and we will recommend one, even if it is the one that pays us less.
Not sure direct placement is the right model?
Tell us the role. We’ll send the plan.
Most quotes go out within one business day. No pitch, no pressure. Just the fee, the search plan and a realistic timeline.